Weekend in the City

I went to NYC this past weekend to visit some friends from Mount Holyoke! It was really fun to see them, but almost as exciting to take the train. I love trains: no car sickness, you can nap without crashing, generally comfy seats…

When I got into the city I had a few hours to kill, so I got lunch at  SweetGreen (http://sweetgreen.com), an amazing salad shop - I highly recommend the Earth Bowl. I also tried blueberry basil lemonade, which was interesting but not my favorite.

Then I hung out in Bryant Park for a few hours, people watching and sketching.

I walked by my favorite store obviously:

And finally my friend Maria got out of work! She is a publisher-in-training at Simon & Schuster, this spring she will have her first crop of books coming out (it will say HER name on the inside!). This is great for me because she gave me a pile of new things to read.

I met up with my friends!

Saturday was rainy but we went to the farmers market anyways and got snacks.

(donuts part 1)

But it cleared up later and we went for a walk across the Brooklyn Bridge!

We checked out this cute coffee shop/ boutique based on the name alone: Fair Folks and a Goat

http://www.fairfolksandagoat.com

It was a really cool place! I would hang out there if I lived in NYC.

Saturday night we went to the First Night exhibit at the Brooklyn Museum, I felt very cultured. Outside we got to use these massive high powered telescopes to look at the moon! It was amazing, I felt like a child again.

Sunday morning we got Dough Donuts!

http://www.doughbrooklyn.com

They were amazing but so filling. We split each into 4 pieces so we could try all the flavors:

top l-r: orange hibiscus, toasted coconut, dulce de leche

bottom: lemon poppy, chocolate earl grey, dark chocolate sea salt

Not pictured in the supper I had on Saturday night at Cent'Anni (http://www.centannibrooklyn.com/#new-page)

They make home made pasta and sauces there, I am now really inspired to learn how to make meatballs!! Maria and I both got pasta with ragu, italian sausage, and veal meatballs. Crazy good.

Because of all the excitement I have not been reading as much, but I did just finish The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield. It was so suspenseful and awesome. I love novels that manage to do parallel stories well! Margaret Lea gets the opportunity of a lifetime to write the biography of the acclaimed author Vida Winter. The only catch is that Margaret is not the first to try to write Miss Winter's story, as the author always invents new tales to tell about her past. However, because of a tragedy the two women share, the truth comes out in bits and pieces, stringing everyone along. The book examines what it means to be a family, particularly what it means to be a twin. I highly recommend it.

Now who wants to go see Gone Girl with me this week?!? I can't wait!